My Severus, your Severus
by Yllana Montray
Summary: Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown are best friends and share almost everything – also the feelings they have been secretly cherishing for their Potions master Severus Snape for years. But when they finally manage to get closer to him, they realize that this is completely different from what they imagined. And also for Severus, these encounters don't remain without consequences …
1. Hello again, Severus

Hi all,

this is my first longer Harry Potter fanfic which I wrote already years ago and now started to translate into English. It deals with the friends Lavender and Parvati who adore their teacher Severus Snape and stop at almost nothing to get closer to him …

The story starts with a normal "schoolgirl-routine", but soon gets darker … I hope you'll like it! :)

 **Summary:** Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown are best friends and share almost everything – also the feelings they have been secretly cherishing for their Potions master Severus Snape for years. But what has been a harmless game for both so far turns out to become more serious when the sixth grade starts. Each of them now tries in her own way to get closer to the mysterious man – without having the slightest clue what they let themselves in for …

 **Disclaimer:** All familiar characters and scenes of that fanfiction belong to J.K. Rowling, and I am not making any money out of it.

Since I'm not a native speaker, there will be for sure mistakes – please don't hesitate to let me know if you find any.

Now, I wish you a lot of fun with the first chapter! :)

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 **Hello again, Severus**

A new school year had started in Hogwarts, and the students just finished their first lunch in the Great Hall. Now they surged out of the room, on the way to their common rooms in order to relax a little bit before the afternoon lessons would start.

"Parvati, wait for me!" Panting, Lavender Brown hurried up the stairs beside of her friend, clutching the banister with one hand, holding her stomach with the other. "Boy, I noshed too much!"

Parvati Patil grinned and rolled her eyes. "You're not the only one! During the holidays, I almost forgot how great the food is here!"

The girls just passed half of their first sixth grade school day and still felt like being in vacation. Even the three-page essay the new teacher of Defence against the Dark Arts clapped on them couldn't change that fact.

In the dormitory, Lavender opened the window widely and stretched her head outside. "Such an amazing weather. You think, we can make it swiftly down to the lake, Parvati?"

Parvati shook her head. "We only have half an hour left. Or do you want to be late in the dungeons? " she drawled and her dark eyes sparkled.

"No way!" Lavender turned from the window and positioned herself in front of the big pier glass. "So, am I pretty enough?" she wanted to know and shook grinning her long, light brown hair, that became considerably brighter over the summer.

"Very tasty," Parvati murmured in a guttural voice; in that very moment, the door banged open and Hermione burst in.

"Oops!" squeaked Lavender, and both girls started to giggle in an exaggerated manner.

"Did I miss something?" Hermione asked without expecting an answer. Hysterical laughter, which was unexplainable for anybody else, she knew from her room mates since the first grade. "Oh, this day could be so nice," she grumbled during repacking her bag. "We could lie down at the lake and start already with the essay … but no – we are supposed to have two annoying lessons with Snape! A Monday can't be worse, can it?"

Lavender and Parvati exchanged a glance, and again they started to snort with laughter.

"So, as it seems, nothing can rain on _your_ parade," Hermione chuntered and turned to Lavender. "Well, you don't need to cope with that nasty guy anymore, lucky you!"

"Oh yes," Lavender answered slowly. "I do."

Hermione opened her eyes wide. "Excuse me? You nearly failed the OWL – and he took you anyway?"

Lavender smiled a bit insecurely and Parvati commented dryly, "Miracles happen. Particularly at schools of witchcraft and wizardry …"

"And Ron had an Exceeds Expectations and was rejected," Hermione said head shaking, picked up her bag and headed towards the door.

Oh dear. I had to assume that, Lavender thought. "Where are you going now?" she asked casually.

"To the library," Hermione informed her. "Doing a little bit research for the essay … maybe I can finish it then tonight."

"She got problems," Lavender said head shaking, after Hermione left. "I think, the word 'break' is missing in her vocabulary."

"And she bitched about Severus, tss, tss …," Parvati purred. "Ten points from Gryffindor!" she said in a deep voice, and Lavenders eyes began to gleam.

Parvati smiled mischievous, then she removed her scrunchy and ruffled her hair until it hang messily and lankily around her face.

Lavender giggled delighted, whereupon Parvati raised her forefinger warningly. "What is so funny about it, Miss Brown! You are keen on detention, right?" She came up to her friend and took her chin lasciviously between two fingers. "As soon as a brat like you has gone for vacation, all good manners go down the drain! And on top of it all, you sneaked into my course like a cheeky, little piece of work!"

"Since I can't live without you anymore," Lavender aspirated.

"Oh, you little minx!" Parvati snarled, and pushed Lavender away with a playful gesture. She fell backwards on Hermione's bed and tore Parvati with her, who slumped with her full weight on her friend.

"Whew!" Lavender groaned. "Did you gain weight, actually?"

"Hey, are you kidding me?" Giggling the girls tossed and turned on the bed, until Parvati bethought herself of her role. "Now you get your deserved punishment!" she growled with her deep voice, bent Lavenders head back and pressed her lips on the side of her neck.

Lavender closed her eyes and sighed comforting. She loved this game that she and her friend were practising for almost two years in different variations – since they confessed to each other, that they swooned over their potions teacher every normal student actually despised.

Severus Snape really was not what was called a sympathetic, friendly teacher; who was interested in how his students understood the material or whether they felt comfortable in his classes. The only ones, who were able to laugh during his lessons at all, were from the house of Slytherin. The Gryffindors, however, he wore down systematically, whether there was a reason or not. His appearance wasn't particularly appealing either by his always greasy, long hair – but only at first sight!

Sometime towards the end of the third grade, Lavender had noticed, that she found him attractive in a strange way, and six months later, she spotted by chance that it was similar to Parvati. Since then, they were hopelessly lost. And no one was allowed to know about it, because everyone would have declared them as totally crazy. In Gryffindor, Snape was the hate object par excellence; the only one who could come up to this was his little darling Draco Malfoy, of course a Slytherin. Nobody was allowed to know that Lavender and Parvati were really mad – about his eyes, silhouetting dark against his pale skin, his mysterious voice and his slender hands – and that they acted out their fantasies behind closed doors; but certain limits were never exceeded. For this they were both too shy …

But fantasy was something particularly Lavender had a lot. While Parvati breathed one kiss after another on her neck, she imagined with all her strength, it was Severus, whom she felt on her, that it was his hair, which she rumpled wildly with her hands. Parvati's soft skin on her became his scratchy cheek, and her girlish scent became his male unmistakable odor, she knew only too well – after so many times he stood behind her and exposed her in front of the whole class when she had messed up her potion. Sometimes she really almost managed to blend out the fact that it was her friend, whose hands she felt all over her body; these bony gripping fingers could also be of Severus. But how they really feel, I'll never know, Lavender thought, breathing heavily.

In that moment, their door coughed audibly – Parvati had enchanted it, as always, before they were devoted to their favorite game. The girlfriends winced apart and adjusted their clothes, Lavender moved back to her position in front of the mirror, there it knocked already at the door, and Ginny Weasley stuck her head in. "Have you seen Hermione?"

"Is in the library!" Parvati snapped at her. "Anything else?"

"Nope, sorry!" Ginny said piqued and slammed the door shut again.

Parvati and Lavender looked at each other and giggled, both a bit breathless. "It's time anyway," Parvati then remarked with a shrug. "If we want a little fix up, we should start _now_!"

After Lavender had brushed her thick soft hair shiny, Parvati went to the mirror. But she did without combing her hair, only raised her wand and said, "Appario buns!" And yet she had a new hairstyle, two casually rolled nodes diagonally above the ears. A moment later, she had renewed her makeup in a similar manner and given her robes a fitted shape.  
Lavender watched her girlfriend's action jealously – she really had perfected her skills in this sector and always needed only a minute to be ready. And on the move if she felt like, she just modified her garments and created herself a new look.  
She herself didn't like to experiment and felt most comfortable in her school uniform: white blouse, bright red V-neck sweater and red-plaid pleated skirt, with matching socks and loafers. Nevertheless everything always took three times as long with her. Magic was namely not her cup of tea.

A short time later, they arrived panting in the dungeon, where Professor Snape would hold his two-hour Potions. They had an extra hurry to get hold of the best places, but to their disappointment, the tables right before Snape's desk were already occupied – by Pansy Parkinson and Millicent Bulstrode, the most annoying cows Slytherin had to show.

"What is _she_ doing here?" Pansy asked, aghast at the sight of Lavender. "I thought we are here in an advanced course!"

"Shut up!" Lavender said curtly to her.

Parvati meanwhile was searching the room with her eyes. "Well, great!" she hissed disappointed. "Where are we supposed to sit now?"

"Directly behind. Quick! Otherwise, these will also be gone!" Lavender pulled Parvati to the places behind Pansy and Millicent and grimaced immediately when she got the smell of Millicent's low-quality shampoo into her nose.

Parvati slammed her books on the table and flopped down in her chair. "Tell me, are you also freezing?" she asked, fumbling out her wand. A swirl, a whispered word, and suddenly jeans legs peered under her now bright pink pleated skirt, and on her feet, thick sneakers in the same color had grown.  
"No, I'm not cold at all," Lavender said in an ironic tone, staring at the goose-pimples on her bare legs. She knew Parvati would immediately whip her tights when she would ask her, but she was too proud to do so. So she wrapped herself in her cloak and watched the room getting filled. Hermione came in the last minute with Harry Potter in tow and sat down on the other side of Lavender. Even Parvati's twin sister Padma and her friend Lisa Turpin entered the room – by the OWL exams after the fifth grade, the number of potions student had reduced almost by half, and all four houses were taught together – and searched their places as far behind as possible.

Lavender and Parvati got more and more excited and started cackling and fooling around as usual. And finally the at least for them long-awaited moment came: Professor Severus Snape swept into the room, with flowing cape and motionless face, walked over to his desk and let his indifferent glance wander away over the heads of the students. "I welcome you to a new school year," he finally began with his dark voice, mixed as always with a sarcastic tone. "I'm hoping for a good working relationship on a high level, after we finally separated the wheat from the chaff. Of course there can be exceptions, but they prove as is generally known the rule!"

A chuckle sounded among the Slytherins, and shivering, Lavender pulled the cloak tighter around her. The black, cold eyes of Severus Snape rested on her, and as always it caused a sensation in her stomach as if she would ride rollercoaster. Simultaneously, she got doubts for the first time about their great idea to force access to his class. She was not supposed to be here …

"Good," he said, pulling his wand from his cloak. "After you had eight weeks now to let your brain get completely blunted, we will start with something simple." With a flowing movement of the arm he pointed his wand at the blackboard, which filled instantly with a frightening mass of words.

"Yes! Give me more," Parvati whispered and squeezed Lavender's hand who moaned, "I really missed that!"

Hermione had already begun to copy the instructions from the panel, shaking her head in an annoyed manner and hissing remarks to Harry. She hated Snape like the plague, and Lavender could not blame her. Why couldn't this man just be _nice_? On the other hand – would he then be so captivating?

"This is the recipe for a very effective tincture against – warts," Snape explained, while a smirk stole on his face. Lavender and Parvati looked at each other and started – of course – to giggle. Although they knew that there would be trouble, they couldn't help it; something inside of them seemed to want exactly that …

"Since Miss Brown and Miss Patil are so happy about it, I can probably assume that they have been looking desperately for such an agent," it came already in a mocking tone. The Slytherins laughed dirtily, as if this would have been the joke of the century now.

Parvati quickly held her hand over her mouth and had at least the decency to blush while Lavender was staring at her teacher just spellbound. At the sound of his voice, all hairs had placed on her back, and she wished, his black eyes would never let go. But yet he had turned away and told the rest of the class, "All those who haven't got any warts yet, I'll whip you some during the second lesson. Until then, you should namely have the tincture finished, so you can try it on yourself then!"

"This is getting better and better," Hermione muttered tonelessly to herself. "A tincture for warts, hello?! He really has no better idea?"  
She stood up and went to the cabinets on the back wall of the room to gather up the ingredients for the recipe. Also Lavender and Parvati stood up. "Isn't he just … awesome?" Lavender whispered and grabbed Parvati's arm.

Parvati nodded. "He even washed his hair, to celebrate the day. Have you already noticed? Hey, don't look so glass-eyed. You are indeed fully caught again! Really bad …"

"You're not?" Lavender asked indignantly.

"Yes, yes," Parvati hastened to assure her, at that moment Snape, who had settled at his desk, raised his head and gave them a piercing gaze. "What is actually the point of _that_ look?" he snarled at Parvati and eyed her up and down disparagingly. "To my knowledge, the holidays are over now!"

"I was cold, Professor Snape," Parvati defended herself and bravely stretched out her chin. "Compared to outside it's almost zero temperatures here!"

"That's true," whispered Lavender, who still shivered all over her body, knowing well that not only the cold of the dungeon was to blame.

"I see," Snape said slowly. He stood up and walked toward the two girls. "So, after five long years, you have already figured out that it is cold in this room? What a comprehension!" he remarked with raised eyebrows.

Pansy and Millicent whinnied with laughter. Behind them stood Draco Malfoy and watched all this with a sardonic grin.

Snape came to a halt right in front of Lavender and Parvati, and Lavender's heart began to beat faster when she noticed him staring at her bare legs. "Then it can indeed only be a matter of months, until you have found the tights in your cupboards that fit your uniforms," he continued in a cold voice, and now it was Lavender who turned red. She felt now really defenseless with her skirt, which seemed to her suddenly far too short, presenting her already tarnished bluish legs in full length. And on top these super ugly goose-pimples! He most probably finds me absolutely ridiculous and thinks I want to hit on him! Only now, she noticed that all the other girls really wore tights especially for the dungeon, perhaps quickly put some on themselves by magic.

Parvati beside her had flushed as well, but rather with rage. "In a few months we have winter, where tights are quite useful," she answered now clearly, to the horror of all that belonged to Gryffindor house. "But now it's _summer_!"

"Well, that's enough!" said Snape, raising his voice. "Ten points from Gryffindor, I'll save myself any further comment. And now you finally get into gear, we've frittered away enough time!"

"My God, you're so naughty!" Lavender said, half admiringly, half annoyed when she rummaged with her friend in the cabinet for the ingredients. Of course, they were the last; all the others were already busily engaged in the preparation of their tinctures. Parvati just pressed her lips together. "What's going on?" asked Lavender. "I mean, what were you thinking, how he would react to your clothes, Parvati?"

"Well, yeah," muttered Parvati. "But somehow I really don't need this anymore, you know? I'm tired to lick his boots and even find this cool. I'm sick to death of it!" With a violent movement she raised a hand to her throat, dropping her violet roots.

"You think, you will manage _today_?" Snape thundered from his desk, and Lavender quickly turned to the wall. It was incredible, but she had indeed to laugh again …

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I hope you enjoyed it so far! About your feedback I would be really happy :)

CU,

Yllana


	2. Warts and Signs

**Warts and signs**

Half an hour later Lavender rather felt like crying. Everything went wrong, as usual, only this time it was particularly bad because she was surrounded only by "Outstanding"-students. Left, right, in front of her, behind her – everywhere she saw happy faces in front of their cobalt blue solutions that slightly bubbled in the kettles. Only in hers, nothing happened. The instructions Hermione and Parvati whispered to her alternately didn't help either.

Again and again, Lavender dipped the spoon into the cauldron, close to tears, performing the indicated number of stirring motions clockwise, but neither the water in it, nor the already fully soaked violet roots that were sadly bobbing up and down, were impressed by that in any way. She surely had forgotten something at the beginning – that happened to her constantly. And soon, Severus will come and get me, she thought fearfully. If at least I wouldn't freeze like that!

In the very next moment, the dreaded voice sounded behind her, "Miss Brown, the first lesson is almost over. When do you want to start with your tincture?" Snape had stepped close behind Lavender, so close that she could feel his warmth through her cloak. She froze in the motion and did not know what to say.

"Well, Miss Brown?"

Lavender felt his eyes in the back, even Parvati and Hermione watched her expectantly from the side. "Um," she made and slowly turned to her teacher. Severus looked at her with his night-black eyes, and this glance bolted right through her. She often faced him like that already, by his myriad of sarcastic comments about her always bungled work. But never before, her body had responded so violently. The adrenaline raged through her veins, and her knees were soft as pudding.

"Some things obviously never change," Snape said now in a low voice that was still to be understood in every corner of the room. "Miss Brown never used to have such a thing as tact – she doesn't have it now, and will never have it. Even the untainted ancestry won't help in any way here! She will never make this course!"

A pleasingly laughter from four Slytherin-throats followed, and the word "Squib" was to be heard more than once. Lavender saw Parvati showing secretly her middle finger to Draco, but that was little consolation. No one could help her, and Parvati and Hermione had given up long ago defending their friend in front of Snape and the others. They knew how sensitive she was in her pride.

Lavender was used to mean comments from her teacher, and he speaking of her in the third person as if she wouldn't be there at all, was old hat. But it was again and again hard for her to be hit upon her weakest spot, especially since all could sit and watch it.

And today Snape clearly wanted to excel himself, since he continued, head-shaking and half-turned to his protégés from the Slytherin house, with a drawling voice, "Apparently she has really imagined she would be able to convince by other qualities."

Parvati gasped and Lavender swallowed hard. He had never gone that far!

The pitying looks of the two girlfriends finally tipped the scales. Lavender stood up to her full height, so she handed Snape after all, up to his shoulders and looked him boldly in the eye. "Perhaps she even _has_ kind of these," she replied, imitating the whispering tone of her teacher. Meanwhile her heart was beating like crazy.

Suddenly there was dead silence in the room. Snape returned Lavenders look stunned, and for a moment, time seemed to stand still. A long moment Lavender could get lost in his eyes and meant to see something else than coldness in there.

Many times, Parvati and her had tried to find an expression for what was sometimes, rarely reflected in Severus' gaze. Was it sadness and pain about a bitter loss? Was it loneliness? Or too little sex?

Then his voice tore the timeless spell, and Lavender became again aware of her classmates around her. "Miss Brown!" Snape hissed, still silent, but now clearly angry. "You really should watch what you are prating. Knowing not the first thing about potions is one thing, you know. Brazenness combined with bottomless stupidity another! That's another ten points from Gryffindor!"

He turned to leave, but looked over his shoulder again. "And tomorrow night, you will be in my office at seven o'clock! Detention!"

Lavender stared after him with her mouth open as he immediately picked out his next victim, who was called, of course, Harry Potter, and whose potion didn't exactly show the desired color.

"Detention, oh-oh, how awful," Parvati muttered beside her while she decanted her finished tincture into a clean vessel.

"Jealous?" Lavender whispered back, although she didn't feel at all like chaffing. She was really cold now; even her fingers were already blue. But never in her life would she have begged Parvati for a pantyhose!

"Come on, you really wanted this, right?" Parvati whispered.

"No, I did not!" Lavender protested indignantly and stifled a gnashing of teeth. "Are you the only one who is allowed to be naughty sometimes? I don't want me to put up with everything either!"

"Well, yeah," nodded Parvati. "But it had to be such a comment? That was almost a pick up line!"

"He was literally begging for it!" Lavender replied and suddenly giggled. "His face was just awesome, wasn't it?"

Parvati's lips curled into a grin. "This was obviously not what he expected! Well then, have fun tomorrow night!" She threw a sidelong glance at her friend.

Of course it was not the first time that she or Parvati had to spend a few hours in Snape's office doing some boring work; there had been trouble enough all the years. But something was different now, and Lavender felt that Parvati also noted. They both were no children anymore. Lavender became seventeen in August, and Parvati would in a few weeks – at that age, others had a friend for quite some time! Was this the reason why she had suddenly those butterflies in her stomach, at the mere thought to sit alone tomorrow with Severus between all his glass bottles and dusty parchments?

"As I see, all of you here in the room have now completed your tinctures," Snape interrupted her romantic thoughts with his typical drawling tone. "Except for the very hopeless cases …"

Again he stopped right in front of Lavender, and this time it was fear that made her knees tremble. "And exactly those apparently do need our tincture really badly, don't they? Or did I get something wrong earlier, Miss Brown?" he spoke directly to her now and studied her appraisingly from top to bottom. "I see no warts …"

"Undress, undress," Draco Malfoy and Blaise Zabini were singing in a hollow voice, and all the Slytherins were bursting with laughter.

Lavender felt a searing heat overlaying her skin in the neck and face. I need to get out of here! she thought, but gathered her last bit of self-control together. "I don't have any," she replied with a calm voice.

"Well, we can change that!" Snape pointed his wand directly at her face, looked deep into her eyes, and the next moment she felt several subtle splashes distributing on forehead, nose and cheeks. Lavender blinked confused and went immediately with her hands in the face. "Oh God!" she exclaimed, as she felt the thick knobs beneath her fingers and threw a horrified look to Parvati who Snape had chosen as his next victim. Parvati laughed loudly, but immediately clasped her hand over her mouth. "God, that looks nasty," she gasped in a choked voice.

"Stay put, Miss Patil!" Snape snapped at her, and this time Lavender saw something black shooting out of the tip of his wand before it settled on Parvati's fair skin in the form of droplets, which swelled quickly to the size of peas. "Oh God!" Lavender whispered again, and now she had to laugh, although she wasn't in the mood at all. "Do I also look that shitty?"

"You both look mega-shitty," it came amicably from Pansy, who had turned in her chair and looked at the two pleasurably with glittering eyes. "Let's see how you get rid of those, Brown! With your bungler-dishwater …"

"Just wait until it's your turn!" Lavender hissed fraught with anger and began rifling through her cloak pockets for her little pocket mirror.

Meanwhile, Snape had moved on in order to sprinkle the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff in the back row with the ominous black substance. As it was Susan Bones' turn, she was seized by panic and ran screaming out of the classroom. "I should have done this, too," Parvati muttered, who had now turned the tip of her wand in a small mirror, and inspected her murderous, dark brown warts. "On this even hairs are growing, disgusting!"

"That guy has a sense for details," remarked Lavender weakly. She had finally found her mirror and took a fearful look inside. A moment later she sat bolt upright and pulled violently Parvati's cape sleeve. "Parvati, he hexed a Leo into my face!" she hissed excitedly.

"A Leo?" Parvati repeated blankly. "Is that supposed to be funny?"

"Man, the constellation! My star sign! Look!"

Parvati tore her eyes away from the mirror and looked at the nine ugly things in Lavender's face. "Yeah, right," she said after a while reverently. "And it is even side-inverted for recognizing it in the mirror. The man really has an eye for details … you think, this is intentional?"

"He even considered the right proportions of the stars!" Lavender was very excited, her heart beating again like crazy. What kind of joke was that supposed to be? Since the third grade, she had been an absolute expert on everything concerning stars, particularly the area about astrology. Did he know about it? Did he know her zodiac sign?

Parvati attended herself again to her own reflection. "Well, I actually have no Libra in my face!" she said a bit disappointed.

When Severus walked past her on his way up front, Lavender in her hyped-up condition couldn't stop herself from saying, "That was a nice idea to hex my zodiac sign on me, Professor!" A moment later she bit her lower lip. Was this probably too bold? Or just too … stupid?

Snape stopped and turned his head slightly. "Your zodiac sign?" he repeated with raised eyebrows, but then he understood. "Oh, you mean the constellation of Leo. You have noticed it, congratulations! That is, wait … one point for Gryffindor!"

"Thank you, sir," Lavender murmured in a tone that one just could classify as ironic.

"You see, I allowed myself the little fun to let the nice structures in your faces represent something – small parodies of your character traits," Snape turned to the rest of the class. "Is there someone else who has noticed what I intended to say in a roundabout way – sorry, in warts?"

All students looked intently into their mirrors or in the disfigured faces of their neighbors, but no one answered.

"I thought so," nodded Snape. "For Miss Brown I have indeed made it extra-easy!"

A dirty laugh from the Slytherin line; then Draco Malfoy asked with innocent face: "Sir – what exactly did you want to tell Miss Brown then? Maybe that she possessed the proverbial Gryffindor courage of a lioness?"

Snape turned to his godson, and his lips curled into a disdainful smile. "Didn't I just talk about parodies?"

Pansy and Millicent curled up with laughter in their chairs, and Lavender who fought back her tears wished fervently that she had kept her cheeky mouth shut. What was she thinking – that he smiling would wish her a belated happy birthday and perhaps serve her some coffee?

At least they will get now what's coming to them, she thought, and at the imagination of how Draco's flawless complexion would be disfigured, she revived a little.

But she had been looking forward too early. "Now just look at the mess!" Hermione whose nose was decorated with a jet-black giant monster hissed a little bit later next to her and pointed at Snape, who was just about applying small, harmless things on the inside of the forearms of Draco and his other favorites from Slytherin. "And he takes only _one_ of Draco's arms! That's so unfair!"

"Don't worry, Hermione," Harry comforted her, whose face really looked the worst of all. His sign was also Leo, but Snape must have had at least four of them superposed in his face. "He does his lapdog no favors!"

"As if we ever again need that in life," growled Hermione. "And right in the face of all things!"

Meanwhile, Snape walked through the rows and distributed small tweezers and small brushes among the students; with their help they could apply the tincture onto the warts. Unfortunately those didn't immediately disappear as they found to their chagrin. "With the removal of warts and similar skin structures patience and tact are needed," said Snape, and speaking the word 'tact' his voice took a sardonic overtone. Lavender briefly raised her head and, of course, he looked at her!

"The tincture has to impact for a while, until you can peel off the first layer and apply the tincture again. And so on … and before I forget: The normal skin could react with intolerance to the tincture, especially if its quality is not perfect! That's all. Who has finished may leave!"

With a suppressed groan, the students got down to work. Only Lavender sat like frozen on her chair. "Just share with mine" Parvati offered her after a while. "He's got to accept it!" She was already going to peel off the first layer of the ugly things that thereby lost considerable extent, as Lavender tentatively prepared to dip her brush into Parvati's solution.

Immediately Snape's voice lashed across the room. He was just on the opposite side, but apparently he had only been waiting for it. "Miss Brown! You don't want to try your own tincture?"

Lavender winced, and this time she felt hot tears behind her eyelids. Did this guy have to be that merciless? But obediently she started to dab the miserable parody in her face with the failed dishwater from her own cauldron. What else could she do?

"Don't treat all at the same time!" warned Hermione who noticed that Lavender's hands were shaking. "Just wait and see how it works!"

And she was right: After five minutes, the treated warts were still hard as concrete, but the adjacent skin had turned red and burned easily. With Lavender's self-control, it was finally over, and thick tears were rolling down her cheeks.

"Now take mine and let him nag!" Parvati hissed angrily. "Or do you want to run around with your zodiac sign on your face forever?"

"No, for this we can not account, of course," Snape's sarcastic voice rang out behind them in that moment, and the girls jerked round in their chairs.

"Don't you think this is going too far, Professor Snape?" Parvati asked her teacher in a pressed voice. "Look at her skin, this is bordering on assault! She is in pain!"

"I had pointed out to all of you that the tincture should not contact the skin, especially if it shows such a poor quality as this one," Snape replied indifferently.

Parvati jumped up furiously. "But despite the lousy quality you have forced her –"

"Twenty points from Gryffindor," Snape said in the same tone as before, "because of unqualified impudent remarks to a person of respect! Sit!"

Parvati threw a hateful glare to Snape and gritted her teeth. But she sat down again.

"And, Miss Brown," he turned to Lavender, "since your solution has obviously totally failed, you may now share Miss Patil's tincture. It seems at least to be fine!"

"Why couldn't you do that before?" Parvati whispered pissed and started to peel off the second layer of her warts.

The Slytherins who were actually already completed, were still hanging round the door, giggling stupid, probably in anticipation of the next embarrassing interlude. But to their extreme disappointment Snape chased them out with a gesture.

"Come on, now get finally started!" Parvati poked her friend, who was sitting with chattering teeth and blue lips on her chair, her cold hands stuck between the thighs which were not much warmer.

But Lavender was all washed-up. When she raised the brush from Parvati's tincture to her face, watched by Snape's eagle eyes, her hands were shaking so strong from coldness and nervousness that she didn't manage to hit her warts.

Snape finally put an end to this tragedy. "Help her, Miss Patil," he said impatiently, "otherwise we are still sitting here tomorrow!"

Grimly looking, Parvati took Lavenders chin between two fingers and began gently to coat her friend's warts with her tincture. They were now alone in the room, except for Harry, who barely got the better to the sheer number of his "skin formations".

Meanwhile, Snape shaking his head made a note in his notebook. "This is a plain Troll, Miss Brown," he announced with a rich tone of satisfaction in his voice and leant back with his arms folded. Tears were still running down Lavender's face, but she held his gaze as he continued, "And I will give you the troll just because there is no worse mark! You did fail all down the line. I really wonder what's your business at all in this course!"

* * *

Parvati sat in the Gryffindor common room at a table, in front of her a fresh parchment on which only one line was written: "The origin of the Unforgivable Curses – a journey through two millennia". It was the headline that Professor Ashley had given for the essay, that was supposed to be three-paged.

The room was almost empty at this time. Also Lavender had gone off with Hermione and a few others to the lake to bring her frozen limbs back to normal temperature in the warm sun, but she herself didn't feel like that anymore after these dreadful two hours had passed. No, actually, it had been almost three; under Snape's nerve-racking supervision, it took her ages to erase all traces of his amusing exercise from her and Lavender's faces – especially the "Regulus"-wart of Lavenders "constellation", which almost had a centimeter in diameter.

Lavender had once they had left the dungeon behind them immediately regained her slightly over-excited cheekiness – despite everything what had happened to her before – and obviously couldn't wait to discuss everything with her friend. After such a memorable event, Parvati and her used to retreat themselves with much giggling – sometimes mixed with tears – and analyzed it with relish to the last detail; and then often committed their favorite game.

But that was honestly not what Parvati had in mind today – even though she had realized exactly how disappointed Lavender was. And when she thought about it more closely, it was actually because of her friend why she had not joined for going to the lake. Parvati just wanted peace and quiet, a shower, coffee and a bit of time for herself in order to write in her diary and do her homework.

Lost in thought, she chewed on her quill, and finally pulled her diary again towards her in which she had already two pages fully written with her clear, slightly to the right tilted font. She read her report of her first meeting with Severus Snape for many weeks once again and then after some reflection summed up, "It was almost like always. We crave for those two lessons with him, only to be worn down for every little thing! Only that he actually never was as disgusting to us as he was today! Especially Lavender he humiliates, whenever possible. A real turn-off!"

Parvati really wondered what she used to find so great about adoring a chronically unhappy teacher who just threw nasty remarks around. With her friend on the other hand, nothing seemed to have changed: She admired Snape and, just like always, almost fell apart when he taunted her because of her incompetence and thereby looked daggers at her. And this was not only about fear of him.

"Part of her enjoys having his attention, no matter how far he goes, and the nasty audience she has to put up with," Parvati wrote. "She is probably just melting away by the thought about her detention! But I must admit, previously, the same would have happened to me!"

Previously, that had been before the holidays. But now everything was somehow different. Sure, she felt something for Severus. He fascinated her, but she could see through that it was his unapproachable, cold manner above all that had kept her and Lavender on their toes during all those years. "Subtract this mysterious facade, then what is left?" asked Parvati. "Probably a lonely, sexually frustrated wretch who was just left behind! Would he otherwise need it so badly to knock the stuffing out of us, one after the other, all the time? So, for me, it should be a little bit more now …"

With this good intention, Parvati tapped her wand on her writings, which went immediately invisible; after that she closed her diary, saying a sealing spell. Then Parvati sat up straight, got her parchment ready and drew sweepingly her quill.

She had just written three sentences, when four tumultuous first graders climbed through the portrait. However, instead of obediently disappearing into their rooms, they slammed their bags carelessly on a table and began to talk loudly about their various pets.

They probably sat in the sun for too long, Parvati thought annoyed and grabbed her things. At that moment, also Lavender stepped into the common room with Hermione. She looked like the picture of health; the red marks on her cheek were hardly recognizable. "Hey, geek," she greeted her friend briskly. "You really missed something at the lake!"

"It's okay," Parvati replied ironically. "You know how I love to frizzle in the sun!"

"Ever heard of trees?" Lavender asked back in the same tone. "These long green things throwing shadows?"

The disappointment behind it was hard to miss. Her large eyes already gleamed meaningfully, and Parvati knew her friend was bursting at the seams with talkativeness – if it just was not about the thing that worried herself so much. But I can't let her down now, she thought to herself, annoyed now that she had not gone to the lake with the others. The three sentences weren't hardly worth sitting the whole afternoon indoors. And in her diary, she could also write before going to bed.

"Next time I'll come with you," promised Parvati. "And after dinner, we can still talk enough, right?"

Lavender's face lit up immediately and gave the lie to her cool response, "But only if you have nothing better to do …"

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

TBC …


	3. Something changed

**Something changed**

A little later, the girls entered the large dining room of Hogwarts, and as always, Parvati's eyes went in search of two particular persons. Severus Snape was not yet in place, but her sister Padma was already sitting at the Ravenclaw table, in the midst of her girlfriends. She lifted her head, as Parvati walked past her, and winked at her sister for a moment before turning back into a conversation with the blonde Lisa beside her.

The long Gryffindor table was not very crowded. Parvati and Lavender found a place by the rest of their class. Ginny, the younger sister of Ron Weasley, was sitting next to Harry and glared angrily at Parvati. Probably she is still offended by noon today, thought Parvati, with an internal shrug. "Where exactly is the food?" she muttered to Lavender. Her stomach rumbled already like crazy.

"God, how can you think of food now?" asked Lavender and threw her friend a look, as if she lost her marbles.

As an answer to that, the table was covered right at the moment with a variety of bowls and plates from which it smelled seductively. "You still have to ask?" Parvati tapped on her forehead meaningfully and loaded her plate full of lamb chop, parsley potatoes and bush beans. "Ohh, delicious!" she moaned as she had the first bite in her mouth and rolled her eyes with pleasure.

Lavender took from each bowl a bite, of which perhaps a little bird would have had enough, and then let spiritlessly sink her fork into a potato. "My stomach is like a walnut" she complained, and Parvati knew exactly what her text was now. And she was tired of it, suddenly so sick and tired!

"Yeah, and afterwards you will go back to the kitchen and scrounge from the house elves, because you are on the verge of starvation!" she snapped off.

"What's the matter _now_?" Lavender asked with aggrieved voice. "You are still full of Severus' bollocking, aren't you? Why did you let your mood getting that spoiled?"

Parvati gave her friend an incredulous look; then she gritted her teeth. It was typical of Lavender to sort out things the way they would turn out best for her. Without me, you wouldn't even have survived the lesson! she thought angrily, but thought it best not to answer. The last thing should be that the "bosom friends" as they were ususally called, were arguing here in front of everyone.

So she did not answer, staring in another direction, quite by accident in that of the teachers' table. Snape still didn't show up, but it was not unusual that he renounced dinner among the dear teaching staff. She let her gaze wander to Padma, who was sitting with the back to her and unchanged chatting with Lisa.

Parvati suddenly felt a terrible longing for her. The many balmy evenings during the holidays that they had been sitting together on the small terrace of their parents' house, while the crickets chirped and above them the stars were shining, left their mark on her. Parvati had never held such conversations with someone like recently with her sister, not even with Lavender that she could actually confide everything. But Padma was somehow much more … mature. For years they had not been as close as during this summer. Almost as before.

But now school had started again, and they had to return to their different Houses. It was a bit like saying good-bye every year, but this time it really hurt; Once again with a faint feeling of bitterness, Parvati wondered what this stupid Sorting Hat had in mind when he tore apart twin siblings!

For both a world had collapsed five years ago when the hat on Parvati's head was blaring out "Gryffindor" loudly into the hall, after he couldn't decide for an eternity where she belonged. Although Padma was sitting already at Ravenclaw table, and both hadn't been able to imagine anything else but being together with the wise, proud Ravenclaws in the very next moment.

She would never forget the first dark weeks in which everything seemed all gray and pointless to her, the many meetings with Padma in the Great Hall or in the evening in some draughty corridors or toilets where they both shed despaired tears over this injustice. They even went to Professor Dumbledore and had begged him to let them live together in one house, no matter which, and also their parents set all wheels in motion for them. But nothing had been somewhat useful – the decision of that old, tattered piece of felt was supposed to be untouchable. They were simply too different to be allocated together to a house.

And so it happened what had to happen. Time passed, Padma quickly found friends in her house, and after Parvati had halfway overcome her grief, she stopped refusing Lavender's persistent advances and made friends with her. The meetings with Padma got rare, and over the years they grew away from each other. Their intimate relationship from earlier was gone forever, and that Parvati would never forgive this hat. Not even Lavender could understand what it was like to lose one's twin.

"Hello! Earth to Parvati!" her thoughts were interrupted by Ron.

Parvati winced. "What?" she asked absent-minded.

"If you have already started with the essay?" Ron said cocking his head.

What's that supposed to be now? she thought irritated and returned, "Why you don't ask Hermione?" Only now she noticed that Hermione and Lavender had already left. Without letting her know?

"She wants us to do it ourselves," Ron said, looking at her with puppy dog eyes what she never saw at him before.

"Well, then you will probably have to do so," Parvati said. "I've even only three sentences myself." With that she stood up and likewise made her way upstairs. Lavender had to be really offended!

* * *

"Lavender, you don't want to tell me what's wrong with you?" Hermione asked helplessly, patting her friend's hair gently. Actually, she had dealt with sitting immediately in the common room to finish her essay but Lavender had thrown a spanner into her plans; as soon as the door had closed behind them, she had burst into tears and thrown herself face down on her bed.

She just couldn't hold it back any longer, all that had been building in her up over the day, and sobbed so hardly that she could barely speak. But what could she want to tell Hermione? She was anyway already suspicious.

Hermione pulled out another handkerchief and held it toward Lavender. "Is it because of Snape?" she asked perceptively, and Lavender winced violently. Clever girl! she thought. But unlike you think!

"Y-yes," she stammered, and blew her nose noisily. "He was never as nasty as today," she whispered, sitting up. "I don't know if I can stand this two more years."

"I ask myself anyway all the time, how you managed to stay in his course!" Hermione wondered. "He actually only takes students with a very good ZAG in Potions. It must be clear to you that he therefore particularly keeps an eye on you. He just waited for your first potion going down the drain."

Her tone was getting way too schoolmasterly for Lavender's taste and so she just curtly shrugged her shoulders. "Oh, something's just always wrong." But immediately afterwards, new tears swelled from her eyes, her mascara running in black rivulets down her cheeks.

"Then I don't understand, quite frankly, why you really want to continue Potions!" Hermione said, shaking her head.

Lavender raised her head. "Because you need it as an entry requirement for the Healer-education!" she replied quickly as a shot. "And for many other professions as well. You know that!"

For this question, of course, she had been already prepared, when she had asked her parents about talking to Dumbledore. As yet she still had no clue how they managed to convince him and then Snape to let her do the course despite of her moderate ZAG-mark. There were many students beside her who were likewise dependent on a degree in this important subject, but usually the rules were strictly observed.

"How did you actually convince Snape?" it already came from Hermione. "You know, anyone could say that … almost half of the class wants to become Auror!"

Lavender lowered her head and did not answer. Blimey, her entire chest was burning like fire, and she should justify herself to Hermione about things like career aspirations! At this moment, she actually couldn't care less about what she would do in the future. The real reason why she wanted to be in Snape's course was only business of Parvati, her best friend, who was kind of funny since the holidays …

"And what I also do not understand …" Hermione started again, but luckily at that moment, the door flew open, and Parvati rushed in. "Why didn't you wait!" she blurted out immediately.

Hermione quickly stood up, grabbed her books and squeezed herself past Parvati saying, "Patil, take over!"

* * *

The first moment, Parvati stayed put stiffly in the doorway. So that happened, when Lavender was neglected for one afternoon. Oh God, she simply didn't have the nerve now for something like that.

But then she sat down next to her friend and put an arm around her. "That bad?" she asked softly.

Lavender nodded, her face distorted by the crying. "Much worse! I think it was a mistake to want his course so badly!" it erupted out of her. "He will make it the hell for me the whole year! But … I just like him so much!"

"I know," Parvati nodded and stroked Lavender's back, relieved that she no longer resented her recent comment. "And that's why you simply need to show him now what you've got!"

Lavender turned to Parvati and joylessly pulled up the corners of her mouth. "Without having any tact?" she said sarcastically, and at the very next moment started a violent sobbing. Seeking for help, Parvati looked up at the ceiling. This remark her friend had probably taken most to heart what she could understand quite well. Who would like to be made out to be indelicate, moreover by her dreamboat?

"Lavender, he has absolutely no idea!" she tried to calm down her friend. "If one of us is imaginative and sensitive, then it's you. He doesn't even know these words! Don't let yourself get so distressed!"

Lavender raised her head and stared at Parvati from red-rimmed eyes. "Would you perhaps not getting hit if Severus would brand you a coward?" she asked quietly, in a faltering voice. "And if he'd use your sign, which means totally much to you?"

"He surely doesn't know about that," Parvati appeased her. "And how should he know your birthday anyway?"

"And if he does?" persisted Lavender. "Sometimes I wonder what this man actually _doesn't_ know!"

Parvati nodded. That question she also asked herself many times, when the inscrutable eyes of Severus pierced her. He probably even enjoyed that she was happy for a short moment, she thought.

"And then _warts_ , on top of all!" Lavender spluttered. "That's so – unaesthetic, so hideous, so –" She found no more words that did justice to her feelings and threw herself into Parvati's arms as a new crying fit overwhelmed her.

Parvati made another eye-contact with the ceiling, but it couldn't help either. When Lavender was in such a desperate mood, Parvati sometimes had a hard time finding the right words. Helplessly, she finally handed her friend a handkerchief. Lavender wiped mechanically her eyes – her makeup had now completely dissolved – and blew her nose.

"Maybe you should just try to check this lesson off as unpleasant experience," Parvati suggested. "It can't get any worse. And maybe it'll work better next time …"

"But I really can't do it!" Lavender murmured in a trembling voice. "Although I try so hard. Maybe I'm just another squib having too clumsy motions!"

"Oh, stop it now!" cried Parvati, almost mad. "You can do magic! And you can also create potions. Your problem is lack of concentration, you know that? It's hard for you to concentrate your thoughts!"

"And this thing about the qualities," sniffed Lavender, who had not been listening at all. "My God, that was so embarrassing! What is he thinking about me! That I first sneak in his course and then try to get away with such means? How stupid he thinks I am?"

"That he just said for the small Slytherin rats having a laugh!" contradicted Parvati. But secretly she believed that Snape thought exactly that. He had surely gone berserk when Dumbledore forced him to admit Lavender. Because voluntarily he would never have done something like that, and certainly not for a Gryffindor. She wished Lavender had talked to her about her crazy plan earlier, instead of first putting her parents on Dumbledore. She would probably have been the only one who managed to talk her out of it again.

"No, he really thinks I'm stupid," Lavender said dejectedly. "Brazen and stupid, that's what he said, right?"

"So what?" Parvati shook her friend's arm. "Helloo … ! For Snape we all are brazen and stupid, does this have to appear in the Daily Prophet for making you believe it? So just don't take anything he says literally! My God, now come back down to earth!"

Lavender backed off a little from Parvati and her eyes narrowed. "You never used to be that impatient," she said. "You of all people should be understanding me!"

"But I am" Parvati said soothingly. "I just realized that there are still other things in this world, except Severus Snape. I mean, what can he give us? What do we get out of his destructive outbursts?"

"How do you mean – what do we get, then?" Lavender asked blankly. "You never cared about that previously!"

"But now I do! I think we should spend more with people around us, Lavender!"

"With I-know-it-all-Hermione?" Lavender asked, pulling up mockingly a corner of her mouth.

"Why not? She's okay. Besides, we have sixteen guys in our class, of who at least two are quite cute …"

Lavender shot up straight. "Tell me!"

"Only in theory," Parvati fended off. "Harry and Seamus …?"

Lavender rolled her eyes. "Baby faces," she commented. "And the rest you can also forget, also those from the seventh class!"

"Because you're only fixated on Snape!"

"Now you just call him Snape? Come on, that's so ridiculous!" Lavender exclaimed.

"Well, if you prefer, then you're just fixated on Severus!" Parvati replied irritably.

"That's not such a milksop, but a man!" Lavender's eyes took again this rapturous expression, Parvati knew so well. Apparently her friend could never get enough.

"Snape is a pathetic wretch!" Parvati countered. "By _man_ , I understand something else!"

"Is that a fact?" Lavender said sourly. "Well, this you can probably judge only in theory!"

With that she alluded on the values by which Parvati and Padma were educated. Their father came from India, their mother from Turkey, and they didn't directly prohibit premarital sex to the Sisters, but taught them to take their time with choosing a partner and not give away their most precious thing thoughtlessly. As yet, Parvati never had a problem with that. The feelings for Snape had never gone beyond abstract passion, and she never had been interested in anybody else in her field of vision. The more annoying it was for her that her friend now wanted to pick on this supposed weakness although she couldn't show any experience in the field neither.

"Exactly!" Parvati replied coolly. "And it can also stay like this for now. I namely wanted to focus a bit more on school!"

Lavender's jaw literally dropped open. Her tears were now completely dried up. "Are you sick?" she asked in disbelief and felt Parvati's forehead.

Parvati shook reluctantly her hand off. "This is no playground here, Lavender! Unfortunately not," she added, to get the sharpness off her words. "In two years we're done here, and they will go by quickly. It simply makes sense to think about a career already and get prepared, or not?"

"And what would Miss Patil like to do in the future?" Lavender said with a smug grin, but spoke straight on, "Did the Ravenclaws wash your brain, or what's going on?"

"Haha, very funny!"

"No, seriously! Say, do you imagine, in the exquisite circle around your sister would still be room for you?"

"Why not?" Parvati shot back. She stood up and began busily rummaging in her bag, so Lavender could not see her face. "I'll just drop in the common room," she announced with laboriously controlled voice. "Doing something for SCHOOL!"

She slammed the door so loudly behind her that it shook on its hinges, and she had a good mind to hex it, so that Lavender could not get out, only to demonstrate her superiority.

"No, Ron, I have still not more than three sentences," she hissed at the redhead who just opened his mouth, as she entered the common room. Ron closed his mouth again and sank aghast back in his chair.

Parvati smacked her books on a table and sat down with her back to the others. She was hot with rage. If anyone would be wrong in Ravenclaw, it would be Lavender! she thought, as she sought the right page in the book. Why does she always have to pull me down, when she feels bad! And why is it such a drama for her, whenever I give thought to other things than Severus … Snape! she corrected herself. For me it's Snape now. This rubbish has to stop!

Determined, Parvati dipped her quill into the barrel, and after half an hour she had at least commited two more sentences to parchment.

* * *

Lavender stared thunderstruck at the door, through which Parvati rushed off. "I don't believe it," she whispered in disbelief. "Was that just Parvati?"

And again she collapsed crying on the bed. What happened to her? What do I do now? she thought frantically. And she really calls him Snape! Our Severus!

For a long time, Lavender hadn't felt as alone as she did now. Actually Parvati had always been there for her and that in any situation: Whether she had worries or wanted to laugh; if she was in the mood for discussing crazy topics or playing "Severus"; her friend had always understood and shared everything with her. Really everything, even the feelings for their teacher. And that should be over now?

Lavender still couldn't believe what her friend had been uttering previously. To do something for school! Spend more time with the people around them! And forget about Severus?! She must be completely mutated! And that is surely caused by her sister, she thought grudgingly.

The "circle" consisting of Padma Patil, Lisa Turpin and Mandy Brocklehurst had been a thorn in her side for a long time, and for Parvati it had hardly been different. Lavender guessed that the separation from her sister five years ago still gnawed at her and that she was jealous of everything moving around Padma.

Anyway, she should be glad that she didn't end up with these conceited Ravenclaws! Parvati had told her last year that the three girls had established something like a learning circle. They learned together, read a daily newspaper, and for once a week they had even set up kind of a seminar where they alternately gave a small lecture on a particular topic. Parvati had shot her mouth off it, and Lavender was glad that her friend didn't pester her with wacky topics such as politics, economy and career. All this would come soon enough.

And now? The summer vacation had probably been sufficient to trigger Parvati's ambition. Padma had surely, as every year, received an outstanding certificate, compared to that poor Parvati could only pack up hers and leave. And otherwise, this sister was perfect in all things: Popular among her classmates, pretty, diverse interests – she even had proper hobbies – and attracted house points like a magnet. Needless to say, that she was a prefect.

Parvati never talked about it, but Lavender could imagine that it put a lot of pressure on her to have such a talented twin. Still, she had always gone her own way. She was not a person who could be controlled easily – at least until now. Was it Padma's influence or did it come from herself, this abnormal desire to grow up and forget about Severus?

"Whatever," Lavender muttered to herself. "So, I have him all to myself!"

She rose with a sigh and headed towards the bathroom. A shower would do her good and take her mind off. The warm water often allowed her to best enjoy her dreams. Lavender closed her eyes, and while the water ran sparkling over her shoulders, she thought of Severus and how his exciting voice had shifted her innermost in turmoil today. If only he would be a _bit_ nicer, she thought with a sigh, and again a hot shudder overran her at the thought of his mean comments and what a wonderful time he probably had at the sight their wart-sprinkled faces had offered him.

And what was this thing about the lion? Does he know how much that hurt me? Ah, Severus … why do you actually need this?

It was clear to Lavender that this man was deeply unhappy and just couldn't help but take his frustrations out on weaker. Therefore, she forgave him everything as soon as she had calmed down again after one of his verbal attacks or other nasty actions. And that she of all people was his favorite victim, could quite be positively interpreted ….

The detention with Severus came to her mind. Tomorrow night she would be alone with him, with his beautiful eyes, his smell and his voice that made her heart ring, no matter what kind of nastiness he said. A shiver ran through her from head to toe, and Lavender realized that the queasy feeling in her belly was clearly anticipation.

After all that he has performed today, she thought with a grin and shook her head at herself. I must really like him!

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo


	4. Detention

**Detention**

Lavender went to bed as soon as her hair was dry (which took a while since she had to do it the muggle way with a hair dryer). With her essay she had naturally not even started, let alone with the mountain of homework, which Snape had landed them.

Shortly before eleven she woke up again and took five minutes to realize that the low growling noise near her didn't come from Hermione's cat, but was her own stomach. Parvati had been certainly right of course: Lavender almost died of hunger.

Quietly, in order not to wake the others, she got out of bed, pulled her cloak and set off secretly to the kitchen. She had already established the best relations with the house-elves there, and stuffed herself with the good lamb from that evening. The bags filled with chocolate frogs and jelly slugs, she leisurely headed back. Unlike other clandestine night walkers, Lavender never feared of getting caught. Either the caretaker Filch used to deliver caught students to Severus' office, or he was patrolling the corridors himself – and both belonged to her great dreams.

Unfortunately, she was also "lucky" this time and arrived, as always, unseen at the portrait of the Fat Lady. "Cordis Leonis," she murmured, and the picture swung aside to allow her to enter the Gryffindor common room. There she suddenly stared at Parvati, and both girls gave out a shrill scream, just to burst into unrestrained laughter in the next moment.

"So, what did I say?" Parvati asked with boisterous flashing eyes. "You lived off the house-elves again!"

"Because I was starving," Lavender added, chuckling. Her anger at her friend had completely gone all at once.

"Blimey, I'm worrying about you each time!" Parvati moaned. "Just let me know next time!"

What do you take me for? Lavender thought to herself. "So? Homeworkey ready?" she asked in a casual tone.

"Well," Parvati said drawling. "Maybe tomorrow … have played a game of chess with Ron, that took ages!"

"And got a pasting!" suspected Lavender.

"Right."

Giggling, the girls snuggled up together in their favorite armchair directly in front of the fireplace, Lavender unpacked her sweets, and they talked about their vacations, their classmates and the upcoming festivals and parties. Even the analysis of the potions class was finally made up, as if this unpleasant conversation a few hours ago had never been. Suddenly everything seemed to be as it used to; so perfect that Lavender in her relief felt a lump in her throat.

* * *

The next day dragged on like chewing gum, but at the same time it just flew by. Once again, Lavender could hardly eat anything, and she was so nervous that she just messed things up. In Charms, she almost beat Neville Longbottom to death with a chair, although she was only supposed to let her quill floating over the table. And in Herbology she chopped, much to the disapproval of Professor Sprout, a mandrake's half head off, which deafening cries could be heard as far as the west tower, as Ginny gleefully told her at lunch.

"Remember that you have to skip dinner anyway!" Parvati reminded her, at the sight of the three miserable carrots on Lavender's plate. Detention with Snape usually began at seven o'clock as he found that a penalty on an empty stomach developed its effectiveness much better.

"I couldn't eat then anyway," groaned Lavender. "Oh man, I'm excited!"

"Come on, it's not your first detention," Parvati said, lowering her voice so nobody could listen.

"But he will terribly wear me down because I'm in the course against his will," Lavender replied and looked at her friend insistently.

"Well, I'm sure, he won't …" Parvati began and interrupted herself: "Oh – speak of the devil!"

"Where!" exclaimed Lavender and turned so abruptly that she chopped Ron her elbow in the ribs who doubled up with pain.

"Guess where," Parvati said softly. Snape had entered the Great Hall and seated at the dining table of the teachers which stood on a kind of pedestal above all others. Both saw him again for the first time since their first lesson yesterday, and Parvati felt her stomach. And how she felt it! This can't be true now, she thought. I wanted to quit this!

Snape had just filled his plate and let his gaze wander over the room, before he began to eat. Parvati had the impression that his eyes dwelled a while longer on them than on most of the others. But it was difficult to estimate from that distance.

Lavender, squeezing Parvati's hand almost to a pulp under the table, felt it too, of course. "How am I gonna survive this," she muttered. "It's not only that I'm afraid of him …"

"You don't say!" Parvati laughed. "I think your main problem is what you put on tonight, am I right?"

"Will you help me?" Lavender asked relieved.

"Of course!"

* * *

In the afternoon, the girls had separated classes. After lunch, Parvati went to Transfiguration to which Lavender had not been admitted because of her bad OWL-grade. Instead she had Flying at four o'clock, a subject to which she was extremely looking forward, and for that hardly elder students were registered, except the members of the Quidditch teams. The only annoying thing was that often situations of Quidditch games were simulated during the class, and she was so constantly reminded that she hadn't made it into the Gryffindor team all the years. Lavender could fly like hell; there was just each time someone who was considered to be better than her and was given precedence.

Draco Malfoy, as always, seemed to be well informed about Lavender's situation. His superior smile already flashed toward her even as she walked with shouldered broom on the place as one of the last.

"Well, Brown," he greeted her sneeringly. "You never give up, right? But maybe, you finally manage this year to come into the team!" He twisted his forehead into pitying wrinkles. "So, how stupid that Madam Hooch isn't a guy you can beguile with your pretty little legs!"

"Shut up, Malfoy!" Lavender said coldly and simply walked past him. Just don't let him provoke you!

"But what am I talking?" he called after her, grinning impudently. "Your great parents will arrange matters, right?" Of course so loudly that anybody could hear.

Lavender stopped and turned around. "Look who's talking!" she said with a mocking voice. "Who bought you into the team? Without your daddy nothing works! At least, he doesn't have to wipe your ass, does he?" She grinned with satisfaction as the superiority in his face turned into anger.

Draco put down his broom and walked slowly toward her. Lavender noticed surprised that he suddenly was half a head taller than her – it used to be the opposite. "Just be careful," he hissed at her and gave her a little shove against the chest.

"Hey, do not touch me, you creep!"

"Don't touch her!" Harry and Ron roared simultaneously and rushed at Draco.

Immediately, Draco pulled out his wand and pointed it at Harry. "You keep out of it!" he said his lips narrowed with anger. "Or you want to puke slugs?"

Harry and Ron stood rooted to the spot, and Draco turned back to Lavender. "Just sneak into the Gryffindor team, you little bitch," he muttered. "Then I'll mop the floor with you, you can bet your life on that!" He put his wand on Lavenders cheekbone and let it gently slide over her face down to her collarbone, from where he whipped it off in a lascivious gesture.

Lavender recoiled violently and almost stumbled over her own feet. She was still struggling for words, when Harry snapped at Draco: "Man, just piss off!"

The two of them were on the verge of having a real fight, but fortunately at that moment Madam Hooch showed up and began teaching. First, she let her students fly a large lap on their brooms around the field in order to warm up. Lavender remembered to stay away from Draco and enjoyed this unique feeling of flying through the air and feeling the wind in the face. She loved to fly, and it had been hard for her to do without for eight long weeks.

For the start, Madam Hooch limited herself to repeating some figures, which they had learned at the end of last year, such as the rotation about the broom axis while maintaining a certain direction. Lavender noted with satisfaction how stupidly most of them acted. Draco seemed even to be really afraid; he wobbled around helplessly and completely went off course. Even Ron fared barely better; he almost flew into a tree. Harry could just yell a warning to him.

After the lesson, Madam Hooch announced the selection of the new Quidditch members for Friday afternoon. Lavender had, like every year, applied with her, she would risk life and limb like every year, and then with certainty have to take a rejection. Draco looked arrogantly over to her, and Lavender just wanted to fly at his face.

I have to try it again, because of this butthead over there alone. Maybe I have a real chance this time. Seeing that all hunters and chasers of the Gryffindor team finished school last year …

On the way to the castle Lavender thanked Harry and Ron for their support against Draco Malfoy.

"Anytime," Ron assured her. "If you promise to be less violent during Quidditch than during food intake …"

"Huh?" Lavender made blankly.

Ron pulled his shirt up and showed Lavender a spot in his rib area that shimmered slightly bluish. "That's your work," he explained. "Today at lunch, remember?"

"Nah," Lavender said concerned. "Why didn't you say anything? I'm really sorry, you know! It won't happen again!"

"Well then, in that case, I'm really relieved!" Ron grinned at Lavender, and suddenly she found him really acceptable. His red hair was now so long that it touched his shoulders, and he had actually growth of beard. Was Parvati perhaps right, and the baby faces from her class were no more baby faces anymore …? At least, they all seemed to have grown apparently – Ron was almost a head taller than Lavender and had lost some of his gawkiness.

* * *

It was nearly six o'clock when Lavender came rushing into the common room. Parvati sat at a table with Hermione and had actually managed to fill one of the three demanded parchments. Hermione, of course, was long finished with the essay, facing the tasks now that Snape had given them.

Proudly, Parvati held out the parchment towards her friend, but she only tapped her watch with a haunted look.

"Okay." Sighing, Parvati stood up and made her way into the dormitory with Lavender, who immediately removed her sportswear and marched into the bathroom. Parvati followed her and sat down on the red terry toweling toilet lid where she listened to Lavenders report of the Flying lesson.

"Malfoy is such an arrogant asshole!" she commented.

"Oh yes!" it came emphatically out of the shower. "This is funny, now not only Severus has a down on me, but also his fine godson! But what he did with the wand" Lavender stuck out her wet head from behind the curtain, "unfortunately he was the wrong person, but it was amazing!"

"Yeah, sounds really tingling" Parvati agreed, "such a Slytherin's wand within one inch of your eye …"

"Ah, you know what I mean! Give me the towel over there!" Lavender got out of the shower and frantically rubbed herself dry. "Oh God, I just can't manage all this! Actually, I've washed my hair just yesterday, but after the sweating right now …"

"Now calm down!" Parvati said. "You needn't much to do. I'll dry your hair and put your lotion on you!"

"Oh, that's really sweet of you," Lavender said moved and left it to her friend's quick hands to massage the cream resolutely but gentle into her skin. "Did I actually tell you how thrilled I am?"

"Why is that?" Parvati asked, shrugging. "Detentions with Snape are so boring! He gives you the job, disappears into his apartment and leaves you behind in the office. You will rarely see him at all! Quite in contrast to class."

"But I am _alone_ with him," Lavender countered.

"And what do you hope for from it?" Parvati paused in the middle of her movement and looked at her friend in the mirror.

"Perhaps getting a bit closer to him," Lavender said, a little embarrassed.

"Closer?" asked Parvati, stunned and with staring eyes. "What do you mean by that? Is it no longer sufficient for you to drool over him?"

"Not really," admitted Lavender. "For openers, I'd be already fine with … a nice conversation! I just hope you're not mad then!"

Once again, Parvati shrugged and refrained from grinning. Why should she be mad? Snape is going to take Lavender to the cleaners straight away! Nice conversation, is she serious? And besides, he would never, ever get physically involved with a student! But she didn't have the heart to disillusion excited Lavender.

"Well, I wish you good luck," she said. "So, what you're gonna wear?"

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, Lavender set off to Snape's office, which was, like the classroom, also located in the dungeons. After she had first considered provoking Severus, she had finally agreed with Parvati on a harmless solution. So, her outfit was discreet and particularly _warm_ – jeans, sneakers, cloak – but she had put on a subtle eye-makeup and wore her long hair loose. Arrived in the dungeon, she stopped in front of the large mirror at the foot of the stairs and checked her appearance one last time.

And Lavender was more than pleased with herself. Her lips and cheeks were, though without makeup, slightly flushed, and her light brown eyes shone almost like amber today. Her hair was perfect, as always after Parvati had dried it with the wand. Airy and loose it fell in gentle waves down her back and reached in various shades almost her waist-line. Thanks to consistent sunbathing the top hair had adopted a dark blond honey tone while that below retained its dark color. "The absolute eye-catcher!" Parvati had noted with admiration.

Lavender stopped in front of the massive wooden door and, with a beating heart, operated the door-knocker.

"Come in!" it rasped from inside.

As always, Lavender almost broke her hands on the stiff handle, and the door was also not easy to open. But probably it was supposed to be like that. If Snape acted like a gentleman now she would have lapsed from faith anyway.

Severus Snape sat at his desk, a quill between his long fingers, and looked at her. "Miss Brown," he said unfriendly and pointed to a chair in front of his table. "You sit down! We have something to discuss!"

Lavender stepped closer and sank quickly onto the chair before her circulation gave up the ghost. My God, what comes now? Her heart was beating like crazy again. Severus sat no more than a meter away from her. That was hardly bearable!

"What was the grade you completed your OWL in Potions with last school year?" Snape now started straight forwardly and looked down at her with his head unbowed.

Now, her heart skipped a beat. Oh God, he wants it the embarrassing way, she thought. Don't let him get you down! "Acceptable," she said in a clear voice.

"Sir!"

"What?"

"Acceptable, _sir_!" Snape twisted up a corner of his mouth disdainfully. "Is it really too hard for you to remember such a short, but yet so important word, Miss Brown? And it's not called 'What' but 'Excuse me'! So, what was your grade?"

"Acceptable, sir," Lavender repeated obediently.

"And what grade is the condition of admission for my course?"

"Outstanding. Sir."

Snape nodded. "Good. So you know. Then I ask you, Miss Brown, what your business in my class is with your miserable grade!"

Lavender felt a hot flush creeping into her face. Severus pierced her with his eyes, and it required all her willpower not to avoid this gaze.

"Well, Miss Brown?" Snape waited for an answer, but Lavender could think of nothing. She was terribly ashamed and wished with all her heart, she could make her stupid plan undone.

"What do you want in my class?" Snape finally stated the question more precisely.

"Learning Potions!" Lavender said promptly, which caused Snape to show a mirthless grin.

"This is what you haven't been managing for five years," he said coldly. "And your very recent attempt was really poor!"

"I just didn't try hard enough," she said quickly, "uh – sir. But now I understand what the point is. I … I need a NEWT in Potions when I want to become a healer! Besides, I'm very interested in it … honestly!" Oh, how convincing! she moaned inwardly.

"Well, well," said Snape and his thin lips twisted mockingly. "Healer is what she wants to be … how very noble!" He leaned back in his chair, and Lavender knew what would follow inevitably. She knew that look in his eyes only too well: He had just warmed up in order to indulge now in even more sarcastic remarks. And she had once again the unmistakable feeling that Severus knew exactly where he had to start with her.

"So, this touching intention in your small, pure heart is so urgent that you won't spare any kind of embarrassment," Snape detected, his voice dripping with derision. "After you have spent five years to act like a silly goose and disrupt the class by your stupid giggles, your parents are supposed now to sort out what you screwed up by your thoughtless sloppiness!" Snape leaned forward and glared angrily at Lavender. "That's really very … brave, isn't it?"

Lavender sat paralyzed pressed against her chair and stared at her teacher in shock. She was of course used to his rough behavior, but now he had once again surpassed himself. These harsh words went deeper than anything he had thrown at her head so far. So, that's how he is looking at me … and how it's bothering him – but it used to be fine with Dumbledore! she thought confused, but did not dare to speak aloud. Severus' black eyes had her completely intimidated.

"And did you ever consider during planning this hare-brained scenario, what your classmates will think about it?" Snape continued in a devastating tone of voice. "About a loser like you, who is too lazy or too _stupid_ to study; who is sitting among them only because of her pureblood parents, slowing down the work progress? And what about all the others who do _not_ get such a chance …?"

Lavender felt the first tears burning behind her eyelids and resisted the temptation simply to drop her hair over her face like a curtain.  
"And why" – his voice grew louder – "why did you not ask your parents, to also smuggle you into Transfiguration, so that the whole thing at least makes sense? This subject you need namely as well, if you want to become a healer!"

"What?!" Lavender flinched violently, and again her cheeks were burning hot. Why doesn't the ground just open up and swallow me? she thought frantically. God, how embarrassing is that?!

Snape nodded, a triumphant smile played about his lips. "I thought as much. And now the truth: What is it you want in my course!"

This is a nightmare! Lavender thought. A NIGHTMARE!

"I'm more than willing to understand you," the teacher said, shaking his head. "You are all fingers and thumbs, I can see this. You're simply lacking the talent for the subject, the NEWT exam you will never make, even _if_ you'll drop your immature behavior and make an effort. Your career aspirations are not the reason, so what is left?"

He looked at her expectantly, and Lavender saw something like curiosity in his appraising look. What am I supposed to respond now? Oh God, I need to get out of here!

"Now come on, talk!"

Lavender remained silent, staring at her teacher with wide eyes. Now, he got me. I'm gonna cry! He's just waiting for it!

"Talk!" Snape repeated his demand impatiently. "I haven't got time all night."

Silence.

"Well, I'll tell you what I think," he said after a while, in an almost gentle voice. "Your forced participation has something to do with a particular person. Hence your scantily clad condition, even though you know exactly how cold it is in the dungeon!"

"No!" Shocked, Lavender jumped up on her feet. And then the tears squirted out of her eyes, without her being able to prevent it. Startled, she jerked her hand before her uncontrolled trembling lips. "What are you thinking of me?" she stammered.

"You don't want to know." Severus Snape stood up and came around the table. Close beside Lavender, he stopped and looked down at her. He was so close that she could feel his heat again, and for the first time she noticed his right eye color – it was dark brown, not black. And his familiar scent drove her almost mad …

"I'm telling you only one thing," he said softly. "Give it up. If you go now, the recent lesson will be soon forgotten. But the longer you stick to this farce, the more unpleasant it gets – for you, for me and for all other parties involved. And now you go and think about it! If you even understood a little bit from what we just discussed, you will do the right thing!" He turned away.

"What about … my punishment, Professor?" Lavender whispered incredulously.

Severus who had already taken his place again behind his table raised his eyebrows. "I have to disappoint you. But if you love to be punished, you just stay in my course, which will namely become hell for you!"

Without a word Lavender turned and fled. The heavy wooden door slammed shut with a deafening bang behind her, but he would for sure be sympathetic about all her fingers and thumbs.

~~~o0o0o~~~

I hope you enjoy it so far! I would be really happy about your feedback :)

Have a nice weekend,

Yllana


	5. Ravenclaw Seminar

**Ravenclaw seminar**

Weeping, Lavender ran up the stairs, past the great hall and further up to the seventh floor, where the entrance to the Gryffindor tower was. "Cordis Leonis!" she shouted at the Fat Lady.

"Well, well, calm down," the portrait-woman said indignantly.

"Just let me in, fat cow!" Lavender demanded vigorously.

"Pah! You can wait until hell freezes over, you naughty girl!" The fat lady crossed her arms over her heaving chest and prepared to walk out of the portrait.

Alarmed, Lavender reached instinctively for the sleeve of the figure, her fingernails scratching over the surface. "Oh no … I didn't mean it!" she said quickly. "May I now please, please go in? Cordis Leonis?" she asked in honeyed tones.

"In your confused condition?" the fat lady wondered, already reconciled a bit. "Besides, your friend is not here anyway … on the way with her twin sister," she chattered.

Oh, so that's how it is. Lavender leaned against the wall and let herself slip down slowly. As soon as I'm gone, she seizes the opportunity to hang out with her amazing sister and her clever girlfriends. They all know certainly for sure what they're gonna become in future! she thought sourly. At the same time, the tears came again.

"Just do something nice as well," the Fat Lady was to be heard again.

"Haha," growled Lavender. "What is this supposed to be?"

"That's your decision! What is it you really like to do? Taking a bath perhaps? Or snogging with one of the handsome Gryffindors?" suggested the portrait and swung invitingly aside.

"Ew!" Lavender shuddered at the thought, but then she had an idea. "I think, I'll fly one more round," she announced and jumped through the portrait hole to get her broom.

"It's forbidden at that time!" the Fat Lady nagged behind her, but that was just what Lavender wanted.

Shortly thereafter, she shot at the speed of light on her broom down to the lake. It was only seven-thirty but it had already begun to dawn lightly, and close to the forest hung blood-red the setting sun. A slight haze lay over the water, and the air that hit Lavender's face was cool and humid. As always during flying a feeling of euphoria turned up after a short time, and her heart was almost overflowing with longing – for him! At the same time, she felt like hot and cold at the memory of his rebuke – no one had spoken to her like that before, not even Severus himself!

But it serves me so right, she thought remorsefully. What was I just thinking how the whole plan would work … definitely I have not finished thinking; Severus must suppose me to be completely stupid!  
And considering that, he actually behaved quite human towards me, he could have been a lot meaner … at least, he didn't shout at me. Maybe he likes me anyway! And at least he didn't embarrass me in front of the whole class with that thing, because then I would be unable to look anybody in the face.

Again she saw her teacher in her mind, as his dark eyes fixed her, while he tore down her entire lie building with a few specific words. As much as she hated him at that moment – part of her wished all the time desperately, he would take her in his arms and never let go.  
How does Parvati just manage to deal with her feelings so coolly? Lavender wondered. For me it's getting harder and harder! In fact, she had never had such a painful sweet feeling in her chest; in deep breaths she inhaled the fresh evening air, and it was hardly bearable!  
And it has just to be the biggest villain of all people in the whole school! she thought. As if I'd have masochistic tendencies or something! And how shall I actually behave towards _him_ now …?

While Lavender flew her laps around the lake and let her head cleared by the wind, she decided to let some dust settle on this situation. She would dress properly and focus on what she was doing, instead of dreaming with open eyes, damn it! Maybe she'd finally manage to create a magic potion that could be administered safely to another person.

Because she had no intention at all of doing the "right thing".

* * *

Meanwhile Parvati was sitting in the library with her sister Padma. Today in Transfiguration, they had decided to do the homework together in the evening. Parvati was enjoying the peace around her, which was only occasionally interrupted by the rustle of parchments.  
The last few years she had been here only rarely because it used to be much funnier with Lavender and the guys in the common room. Unfortunately, this also affected her grades; but that she realized fully only during the holidays, as their OWL-reports came fluttered by owl – Padma had scored much better, and Parvati knew she could have been as good as her.

At least, the marks had been good enough to register further for all important subjects. There was still nothing lost, but she didn't want to mess her NEWT's, too. The admission requirements for some trainings or courses at the university were tough.  
If just Lavender would understand this a little more, she thought with a sigh. I feel already like being Hermione in front of her! Even though, this is equally important for her, unless she want to get married right after school and have kids …

"Hey, look, isn't that Lavender, flying over there?" Padma interrupted her thoughts.

"What?!" Parvati rushed to the window just in time to see a person on a broom whizzing by, the long hair streaming behind her. And then she had disappeared again behind the next pinnacle.

"I don't know if it was her," she said. "I actually thought she was at Snape's …"

"And that can take ages," Padma added, smirking. "As you surely know, little sister!"

"Not everybody can be such a good girl as you!" Parvati countered. She was the quick-tempered of the two, Padma the calming influence.

Padma laughed. "That's what I saw yesterday. You really hit back at Snape! But Lavender wasn't bad either! Besides" – her narrow upper lip curled in indefinable ways – "how did _she_ actually manage to get into this course?"

There was something about Padma's tone that upset Parvati. "Through the door," she thus said curtly. Her loyalty to Lavender ran deep, not even Padma could change that. And for sure, she wouldn't let her know about Lavender's lapse.

"More probably through the back door, I suppose," it came sharply from Padma. "Well, that's not really my problem. Are you actually joining Lisa's seminar afterwards?"

"Sure!" Parvati already sounded a bit more enthusiastic now. Lisa planned to give a little talk about the daily life of a student of magic. Apparently, she had interviewed a friend of her older sister, and Parvati was really curious on the subject.

Eagerly, they continued their essays for Transfiguration, until it was just before nine. Then they set off for the classroom for Ancient Runes. The corridors already lay in semi-darkness, because the sun had long since set. "Lumos", the sisters whispered to their wands, and two small beams lighted up. Parvati felt Padma beside her shiver – both sisters never lost their fear of the dark completely, and their huge shadows flaring up and down on the walls behind them were indeed scary.

Padma groped for Parvati's hand, and their long fingers were crossing. The feeling that gesture triggered in Parvati was intense, yet she couldn't put it into words. But she suddenly smelled the scent of the terrace where she had been sitting with Padma so often; when the mild evening air mingled with the light lemon scent of Padma's freshly washed hair and the food scents from inside. How could she not have missed this in all those years? I was always distracted, she thought. Because of the Snape-cult, which I created with Lavender. Oh God, how pathetic we have been! If Padma knew …

"Um," Padma made when they stood in front of the door of the classroom and let Parvati's hand go. "It may seem a bit stupid to you, but – we always meet in our school uniforms …"

Parvati snorted with laughter, but quickly put one hand over her mouth. "Sorry – but that really seems … weird to me. I mean, usually you are among yourselves, the three of you!"

"Anyway. This helps us to maintain the discipline and to not drift away constantly," Padma explained in a serious tone.

"Is that really necessary?" grumbled Parvati. She didn't think much of strict dress codes, the trouble she sometimes got during classes because of that was already enough for her. Regarding this, her sister was much more conservative. She always wore her uniform, and during her spare time she frequently was seen in brightly-coloured saris, the traditional clothes of a home they both barely knew.

Padma anyway looked much more oriental than Parvati, although they were identical twins. Her heavy hair was almost hip-length and often wound around her head in thick braids, and her way of making up emphasized the profound blackness of her slightly almond-shaped eyes. The inner peace that she radiated for quite a while, Parvati put down to the fact that Padma occupied herself intensively with the Hindu religion for years.

"No, of course, it's not," Padma answered slightly indignantly. "Actually, you're just a guest!" Then she performed a complicated wave with her wand, and her yellow sari changed into the dark blue school uniform of the Ravenclaws. Without turning again, she opened the door and entered the room. Parvati walked behind her – now she also wore her uniform – and was surprised, apart from Lisa and Mandy, to see Hannah Abbot and Susan Bones from Hufflepuff. Lisa was already waiting in front of the teacher's desk, the others had spread over the tables around it. The twins sat down together at a table behind them, and Padma grinned at Lisa: "Shoot! Or is still somebody else coming?"

"Not that I know. But how about bringing along Hermione next time?" she suggested to Parvati.

Parvati shrugged and said nothing. And why not Lavender? she thought irritated. Is she perhaps not elitist enough for you?

Lisa started her little presentation by giving a brief outline of what she wanted to tell. She even wrote the key points on the board by hand. Then she began to explain the individual points, starting with the entry requirements and tests of the program, followed by an overview of the course of the three-year study, and eventually she came to the final exams and the possibilities that one had with this qualification.  
After that she came to the more private part of the whole. The friend of her sister had told her many details about the type of people who usually attended this course of study, the peculiarities of some professors, the student parties, life on campus, and so on …

Parvati listened, intrigued, and also the others were completely quiet. Lisa was a good speaker and had her presentation very well prepared. Well, she's not doing it for the first time, Parvati thought.  
The "circle" already existed for over a year, but Padma used to mention it just incidentally, and Parvati really had other things to worry about. But now the ardent desire awakened in her to belong to it, to inform herself about certain topics and to broaden her horizon.  
And to be with Padma. After all, who knew where they both would end up after school! Padma sometimes talked about going to India for some time …

Lisa finished her lecture, and Parvati put the first question: "Is it possible to do terms abroad there?"  
She noted Padma's glance; it seemed that she liked the question, she probably would have asked that herself.

"My friend didn't talk much about that, apparently it is not common," Lisa replied. "But I've heard from some people who have gone to Romania …"

Also Padma and Mandy had some issues, and a lively discussion developed, where only the Hufflepuff girls didn't take part. But not out of disinterest; it was well known that they were very shy. After a while, the conversation took on a more relaxed form, and there was a lot of laughter. Parvati felt incredibly comfortable.

It was almost eleven when they left the classroom, Parvati could have talked forever. In the stairwell, she separated from her classmates. The Ravenclaw rooms were in another tower, and her own common room two floors up. A little shaky beam of light met her halfway, and Parvati stood rooted to the spot, frightened. No, it can only be a student, she calmed down herself. A teacher would move a lot more confident through the dark walls. "Lavender?" she breathed, and she was not surprised in the least to hear her friend respond. It was her time, and she had had no supper.

"Is it you?" Lavender hurried down the steps and took Parvati's arm. "Are you coming with me into the kitchen? I still need a bite to eat …"

"So – how was it?" Parvati whispered impatiently on their way to the kitchen.

"I had my nice conversation!" Lavender informed her.

She wouldn't say another word, all the way down, until they sat in the kitchen, each a plate of rice and chicken wings in front of themselves. Then everything came out of her, and she told how Severus had exposed her and suggested to abandon the course. However, Parvati noted with relief that Lavender's despair kept within limits. She appeared strangely calm and collected, as if she got over the conversation already quite well.

"And he really said you were in his course because of another person?" Parvati asked incredulously. "He couldn't get more personal, could he?"

"That was the real highlight of it all" Lavender confirmed. "I cried my eyes out. It's pretty obvious that he means himself by that. Quite cocky, huh?"

"Are you sure?" Parvati asked.

"Of course! I would never had to create such a fuss because of a student … I see them all in the other courses often enough!"

"That's true." Parvati nodded thoughtfully. "And after all our highly inconspicuous drooling over him for the past two years, he probably has already noticed by now! But what are you going to do?" she asked.

"Stay!" Lavender said firmly. "What else?"

"Until the next fiasco happens," Parvati said warningly.

"It won't gonna happen! I'll pull myself together." Lavender looked at her friend pleadingly. "And you have to help me!"

"Of course I'll help you. But you have to be realistic …"

"I am!" Lavender interrupted her passionately. "Parvati, I can not stop Potions! I love Severus!"

Parvati almost choked on her mouthful and stifled her laughter. "You have a crush on him!" she corrected Lavender. But she noticed a look in her friend's eyes, she did not know. They had never shone so brightly.

"No! At the risk you getting really pissed now – but I want him! Completely!"

"Completely?" Parvati repeated hoarsely. "That means … but how …" She broke off in disbelief. The thing about Severus used to be a game for them, a very time-consuming and intense game indeed, but the limits had always been clear.

Apparently not to Lavender. "That will arise somehow," she said confidently. "By then I just have to stay in his course!" She looked very determined, and only now Parvati noticed that also her face had changed almost imperceptibly in the eight weeks of vacation. Was it because her full cheeks, which had always given her a childlike appearance, had become narrower?  
Just in time for reaching majority … maybe she is indeed growing up, thought Parvati, and it gave her a small pang. Because suddenly she no longer considered it so impossible that her friend would try to put her desire into action.

"So, how was your evening?" Lavender asked now, but Parvati knew exactly that there was only one person in her mind, and that was not her. She decided not to tell Lavender that she joined the circle.  
So she told only half the truth: "I met Padma." Her other exciting impressions she rather kept to herself. She knew already that she would lie awake half the night, and so would probably Lavender.

* * *

Hermione was already in bed, when the two girls came to the dormitory, but her curtains were still open, and she read in the light of her small bedside lamp. When she heard the door flap, she looked up from her Arithmancy book, and asked, "Where have you been so lately?"

"In the kitchen," Lavender said defiantly and stroked her full belly. She knew that by giving such answers she brought Hermione in her capacity as a prefect in a conflict, and some part of her enjoyed this.

But Hermione didn't buy into that. "So, how was detention?" she only asked.

"As usual," grumbled Lavender; except from Parvati nobody was supposed to know more. She reached under her blanket and pulled out her nightdress.

Parvati had gone to the bathroom already, and she was just about to follow her when she again heard Hermione's voice behind her: "By the way, Lavender, what I've wanted to ask you all the time …"

With an uneasy feeling Lavender turned to her. "I'm listening?"

"What is actually this whole trouble about Potions if you don't carry on with Transfiguration? As far as I know you namely need both if you want to become a healer!"

Lavender turned away with her lips pressed together and stamped off to the bathroom.

"Oh, and could you please start this year removing your hair after showering?" Hermione called after her.

* * *

The morning came way too quickly. A voice came through Lavenders sweet dreams, repeating insistently the same words: "Get up … get up … get up …"

Growling, she turned back over. Where was she? Something with Severus … but the dream was slipping away, and then this voice again: "Get up, lazybones!" That was Hermione. Ohh! Lavender didn't react at all, but properly getting back to sleep she couldn't do either.

"Now go on and get up, you'll be too late for breakfast – no, it's not working that way … Wingardium Leviosa!"

And suddenly Lavender's blanket was gone. Shivering, she curled up and muttered, "Oh no …"

"God, Hermione, are you crazy?!" Parvati roared. "Could you please mind your own frigging business?" With a thud she jumped out of bed.

Lazily, Lavender lifted an eyelid and saw her and Parvati's blankets revolve around the ceiling light. Oh, funny! she thought annoyed. Parvati, however, quickly put an end to this and solicitously covered Lavender up again. Then she went angrily into the bathroom. "Have you forgotten that she can sleep longer today?" she heard her voice carry weakly through the door.

Yes, that's right, thought Lavender, snuggling pleasantly under her blanket. Because I didn't register for Arithmancy three years ago, clever me! Instead, I'm going to see Severus after that … At the thought of her teacher, her stomach contracted immediately.  
She dozed a bit further, sniffed the fresh air that came through the open window, and listened to the merrily chirping birds. She also heard the sounds Hermione and Parvati made when they quietly got dressed, packed their bags and finally left the room.

A little later, Lavender got up and, dawdling with relish, also got ready for the day. She loved having the first two periods off – but who wouldn't? And tomorrow it would be the same, since the others had Transfiguration then …

She made up her face carefully in such a way that she looked almost unadorned; only her eyes should be shown to advantage. Her long hair she tied into a ponytail, the only hairstyle she could manage without Parvati. Then she put on her school uniform, but at the sight of her tights she went on strike. No! Outside there are already twenty degrees, and I'm just melting. I'll get them afterwards!

In the common room, she met Ron, Harry and Neville who, like her, had decided against cramming complicated formulas in the third grade. Together they went to breakfast into the Great Hall, which was pleasantly empty. Only for a few students of the upper two classes, school started at that time, and many of them were still in bed. The staff table was completely empty.

"That's how it's supposed to be!" Ron said pleased and loaded a huge portion of scrambled eggs with bacon on his plate. "Long live the bohemia. And tomorrow the same procedure again!"

Lavender nodded and reached for her glass of pumpkin juice. "That's the least that we deserve for being excluded from Transfiguration!" She took a gulp.

Ron looked up from his plate. "What note did you actually get?" he asked.

"Acceptable," muttered Lavender. "And you?"

"Exceeds Expectations. As in Potions. A fat lot of use that is to me," Ron said in a slight bitterness. "The Auror I can cross off my list!"

"I'm sorry," Lavender said quietly. "The rules are really nasty."

"So what?" Ron grinned again. "Potions at Snapey was not our thing anyway, right? So, what is my fellow-sufferer gonna do all morning now?"

"Um!" Lavender felt again the familiar redness rise in her face that seemed to be her constant companion at the moment.

"What?" Ron asked.

"Ron," Harry said softly as Lavender did not answer. "She _has_ Potions."

"What! You got an Outstanding?" Ron asked, aghast. " _You_?"

Lavender stood up without saying a word and left the Great Hall. She couldn't do that anymore, and she felt sick at the prospect of being asked this question about another twenty times. "And what about all the others who do _not_ get such a chance?" Severus' voice echoed in her head. Oh god, oh god, I'm so stupid! she thought desperately. Everybody will hate me. Why didn't I think that over more carefully? I should have discussed that with Parvati …

Just at that moment, she heard rapid footsteps behind her, and someone grabbed her arm. It was Ron. "Lavender, I'm sorry," he said contritely. "I didn't mean to hurt you! Your marks are none of my business, okay?"

"Er – all right," Lavender said surprised. What did Harry just tell him? she wondered. She couldn't for the life of her imagine that Ron had made the decision by himself to drop the subject and run after her. "How is your bruise, actually?" she distracted him quickly.

"Oh, that!" Willingly, Ron pushed up his shirt and showed Lavender her doing, that glittered in a bright blue by now.

"My God!" Lavender said impressed and stroked it slightly with a finger. "I will be more careful in future, I promise!"

Ron grinned and pulled his shirt back into place. "What do you think – I'll get us a coffee and we play a game of chess," he suggested.

"Sure!" Lavender knew she would lose anyway, but at the moment she was just glad that Ron overlooked her faux pas so magnanimously. Besides she liked chess a lot.

Finally it was Ron who looked completely shocked at the clock: "You have to go, Lavender!"

Oh God! She jumped up, not without knocking over the board, so that the chess pieces were scattered in all directions. She ran into the bedroom, grabbed her bag and ran past Ron, without saying goodbye.  
I must not be late, I must not be late! she thought frantically. And especially not after last night!


End file.
